182 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 114., Mar. 6, '68. 



Now it is very true that tottering may suit the 

 antithesis better than bibling, and that in Dr. 

 Shaw's Bacon (Lond., 1733, 4to., vol. i. p. 62,), 

 we find the former word : — 



" With these continually join the Satyrs and Silent, 

 that is Vouth and Age; for all things have a kind of 

 young, chearful, and dancing time ; and again their time 

 of slowness, tottering, and creeping." 



Yet, allowing all this, what authority has Mr. 

 Sinfjer for assigning to the word billing (Latin, 

 bibula) the sense of tottering ? 



I shall advert but to one note more. In the 

 Fable of Dionysus, at p. 32 1 ., Lord Bacon says : — 



" A Man can hardly distinguish between the Acts of 

 Bacchus and the Gests of Jupiter." 



Note. " HerUigain the Montagu edition in consum- 

 mate ignorance prints ' the Jests of Jupiter !' " 



Now, Mr. Singer, in his anxiety to show up 

 " the Montagu edition " on all occasions, here 

 overshoots himself somewhat, and betrays his ig- 

 norance of the fact that in old writers this word 

 is written indifferently "gest" and "jest:" thus, 

 in Sir Thos. Elyot's Governour, fol. 204. : " The 

 Jests or Acts of Princes or Captains." 



What little revision Sir Arthur Gorges' trans- 

 lation of the Sapientia Veterum has undergone at 

 Mr. Singer's hands, three specimens may suffice 

 to show : — 



" It is wisely added, that Nemesis rides upon a Hart, 

 because a Hart is a most liveli/ creature," &c. — P. 314. 



Now the original Latin reads Cervus vivax, and 

 the whole point of the passage turns on the Stag 

 being a long-lived, not on its being a lively animal. 

 Moreover, "long-lived" was a proverbial epithet 

 of the Stag with the ancients ; thus Virgil : — 



" Et ramosa Mycon vivacis cornua cervi." 



Eclog. VII. 30. 

 And Pliny explains this longevity by saying 

 that as age approaches. Stags renew their youth 

 by feeding on serpents. 



In the Fable of Proserpine, Lord Bacon says of 

 the golden bough : — 



" This was an only Bough, that grew in a large, dark 

 Grove, not from a Tree of its own, but, like the Misletoe, 

 (sed Visci instar), from another." — Dr. Shaw's edit. 



The original Latin, Visci instar, is rendered in 

 Mr. Singer's edition, " like a rope of gum." ! ! 



Lastly, in the Fable of the Sirens, the concluding 

 sentence thus stands in the original : — 



" Meditationes enim Rerum Divinarum, Voluptatis Scn- 

 sus non tantum potestate, sed etiam suavitate superant." 



" For Divine Contemplations exceed the Pleasures of 

 Sense ; not only in Power, but also in Sweetness." — Shaw. 



In Mr. Singer's edition it is rendered : — 



" For Divine Meditations do not only in Power subdue 

 all sensual Pleasures ; but also far exceed them in Swift- 

 ness [suavitate!] and Delight." 



A closer examination of Mr. Singer's book would 



doubtless reveal other errors, but the instances I 

 have given may for the present suffice to show that 

 it is not — what is much wanted — an accurate and 

 scholarly edition of Bacon's Essays. With regard 

 to such a work I shall make but one suggestion : 

 The editions and versions of these Essays are very 

 numerous, and vary much : the most important 

 and valuable of such notes as are really necessary 

 might be obtained from the collation and com- 

 parison of these, by subjoining a various reading 

 whenever it is more clear, full, or beautiful, than 

 that in the text. Of this I shall give two in- 

 stances, not the best that might be given, but the 

 first that occur to me : — 



" Praise is the Reflection of Virtue ; and, like Light, 

 participates of the reflecting Body. If it proceeds from 

 the Head, it is commonly false ; and rather attends the 

 Vain than the Virtuous : for the Vulgar have no feeling 

 of many eminent Virtues." — Of Praise, Dr. Shaw's edit. 



Compare the above with the passage and note 

 in Mr. Singer's book, p. 196. 



Again, if a note were required at all on the 

 word "nice," at p. 114., which is very question- 

 able, the reading given in Shaw's edit. ("The 

 Spartans were reserved and difficult in receiving 

 Foreigners among them," &c.), would be far pre- 

 ferable to the explanation given in Mr. Singer's 



note. EiRIONNACH. 



{To be continued.) 



BULLS OF IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, 1759 — 



1760. 



I. 



" Jacobo III., Magna Brittanim Regi, jura nominationis 



ad Episcopates Sedes Catholicas prceservat. 

 " Carlssimo in Christo Filio Nostro Jacobo Mag. Brltt. 

 Regi 111. 

 « Clejiens Papa XIII. 

 " Carissime in Christo Fili Salutem, et Apostolicam JBene- 

 dictionem. 

 " Cum Nos hodie per alias Nostras in simili forma Brevis 

 expeditas literas, quarum tenorem pro plene, et sutficien- 

 ter expresso, ac praesentibus inserto habere volumus, 

 Ecclesiae Limericen. in Regno tuo Hibernias vacanti, 

 Dilectum Filium Danielem Kerney, cui apud Nos de lis, 

 quae ad tantum onus sustinendum necessaria; sunt, quali- 

 tatibus, fide digna Testimonia perhibita fuerunt, quemque 

 Nobis Majestas Tua per suas literas ad id nominavit, in 

 Episcopum praefecerimus, et Pastorem, curam, regimen, 

 et administrationera ipsius Ecclesiae Limericen. ei in Spi- 

 ritualibus, et temporalibus committendo ; Verum in Uteris 

 hujusmodi nullam nominationis a Te factae, et ad Te per- 

 tinentis mentionem fieri censuerimus, iis ita suadentibus 

 rationibus, quas pro spectata prudentia Tua Te facile as- 

 secuturam esse non arabigimus, idque Tibi nullo mode 

 ofiicere summopere cupiamus. Idcirco per prajsentes ex- 

 presse declaramus, mentem Nostram fuisse, et esse, ut ex 

 tali omissione, quam praesentis temporis conditio postula- 

 bat, nullam Tibi, Tuisque juribus nominandi detrimen- 

 tum illatum fuerit, vel sit, sed ea omnia ita salva, illaesa, 

 ac prajservata intelligantur, proinde ac si in ejusdem Uteris 

 expressa Tuae Nominationis hujusmodi mentio facta fu- 

 isset. QuocT dum eo animo Tibi jsignificamus, ut novum 



